


A Hope For The Lost

by Ruby_Dragonryder, TheInkedFantasy (Ruby_Dragonryder)



Series: The Rewritten Story AU [2]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: F/M, Floof & Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23565553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruby_Dragonryder/pseuds/Ruby_Dragonryder, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruby_Dragonryder/pseuds/TheInkedFantasy
Summary: Part ofThe New LoopandSeventy Two Loops of Discovery. (It's in the second loop.)Illusion heads back to her “lair” after a long loop, hoping for some quiet relief from the Master’s orders. It’s a Recovery Day, after all...
Relationships: Henry Stein/Linda Stein
Series: The Rewritten Story AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690837
Kudos: 4





	A Hope For The Lost

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little reveal for my AU. I really should keep it secret for a while until we reach this point in the main fic, but I just couldn’t wait. This happens right after Bendy and Henry complete the first loop and they then collapse in the ritual room on the second floor. Illusion, not being needed for the next eight hours or so, decided to go home to the people who care about her. Who are they? I guess you’ll have to read it to find out.

As Henry and Bendy tried to figure things out as they moved forward, the dragon slunk back to her lair, if you could even call it that. Knowing that she wasn’t needed for a few hours and that her Master would be disappointed in her, she crept quietly back through the ink into the lab she unfortunately called a home, if she even could call it such a beloved name. She was so close to escaping, to getting back to her safe space in the very last cell in the hall, when she tensed. 

“Tch, tch,” the man she had come to call the Master said in disappointment. She refused to call it Joey. He was not Joey Drew. “What is this, beast? Are you trying to hide, to slink away like a bad child? I would have thought better of you, Illusion. After all, you are not that imbecile, Mirage.” 

Illusion shuffled her talons as she turned around, shame written on her draconian features. “N-no...” she stammered, hoping he wouldn’t see through her lie. “I was heading b-back to my cell so I could g-get some rest so I-I would be ready to hunt again when the time comes.” 

The Master sighed. “You are a terrible liar, you know that? Although your reasoning is sound, your guilt is plain to see.” 

He placed a hand on her snout, and she whimpered in pain at his burning touch. For reasons she would never understand, his touch burned her ink, so she tried to avoid it as much as possible. So much for that. 

“Don’t _ever_ lie to me again,” he snarled. “Do you understand?”

She nodded frantically, desperate to get away from him. 

“Good. Now, head back to your room. I’m sure the others are waiting for you. It is a recovery day, after all,” he said, all evidence of hostility gone in a flash as he turned away. “I have work to do.” 

She bolted back toward the cells in the back of the lab at hearing those words. It was a recovery day, one of the few days she could have even an ounce of what her friend called a family. Recovery days were days of safety, and she wasn’t about to waste a single second of those few precious hours. As she approached the very last cell, she went from the gigantic dragon to a large dire wolf, her horns and scar transferring through the shift. Nothing seemed to make the scar go away. Nothing. She could have taken a more human-looking form, but the Master seemed to like that form along with the dragon he made her use to stalk the studio. No, the wolf was hers and only hers, and so the dire wolf she stayed. Besides, she was warm and fluffy like this, and her friends liked that. 

She stopped momentarily to say hello to Wally the Boris clone in his cell, the fourth and only other prisoner in this part of the studio, before getting a waved hello back and continuing on. After padding through the door to her own cell, she made her way to the back wall where a man and a demon toon were waiting for her. No, these are not our beloved protagonists Henry and Bendy who are still on the second floor in the ritual room, waiting to wake up after passing out on the pentagram on the floor. These are prisoners, victims of the Master’s brutal torture and cruelty. They moved to allow her to maneuver behind them so that they could lean into her soft fur. 

“So?” asked the demon impatiently, his golden human-like eyes alight with curiosity. “How did it go? Did you catch her?”

Illusion sighed. “No, I didn’t, Inky,” she replied, nuzzling the toon form of the Ink Demon affectionately. “She’s slipperier than an eel.” 

Inky nodded, satisfied with this answer. “Ah, well,” he said kindly, realizing that the Master must have done something to punish her for failing and trying to cheer her up, “you’ll get her next time, Illusion. You’re really good at those hunting games. And then he won’t get mad anymore.”

She nodded meekly in response before looking up at the man holding the demon. He was looking her over for injury, she realized. 

“I’m fine, Joey,” she promised the owner of the studio. “He didn’t do much. He just burned my snout a little. It’ll go away in a few hours.” 

Joey Drew—one of her two closest companions in this sorry existence—sighed, looking thinner and weaker than she remembered him looking when she left a few days before. “If there was a way to stop him from hurting you, I would take it,” he said sadly, scratching her behind the ear just the way she liked it. “Neither of you deserve this. I wish I could get you both somewhere safe. Or next time you’re out, you should both leave, find a place to hide where he’ll never find you again.” 

“No!” Inky exclaimed. “We would never leave you, Joey! If we did, we wouldn’t be any better than the imposter in the lab outside our cell. If we’re getting out, we’re getting out together!”

“He’s right,” Illusion agreed. “You’re all we have. We’re not leaving you here.”

Joey seemed shocked for a moment before a weak smile crossed his face and he pulled them both closer to him. “Thanks, you two. Someday, we’re all going to get out of this stupid cell. All three of us. And then we’re going to see the sun and have ice cream and never have to worry about any of this crap ever again.” 

“Freedom,” Illusion whispered reverently, dreaming of a day when they would be free. “We’ll have freedom...”

“That sounds nice,” Inky yawned, cuddling closer to Joey’s chest. 

Although Illusion was soft because of her insanely fluffy fur and wings and emitted some heat from her dragon’s fire deep within her, it was nothing compared to Joey’s body heat. He felt like a heater on their cold ink, and Joey didn’t seem to mind having them close despite their lack of warmth. The trio made each other feel safe, and they would do anything to have that feeling. Even hunt others down to gain the sweet reward of never having to be separated from each other again. If Illusion just had to catch Mirage to be allowed to stay with Joey and Inky for the rest of eternity, even if it was in a cold, dark, a sparsely-furnished cell with very little food or water between the three of them, she didn’t think that was a bad trade-off, to be honest. Who cared what happened to Mirage if it meant she could be with her little makeshift family forever. 

Joey held the demon close to him and rubbed Illusion’s fur, making her almost purr like a cat. He wished that the Master would stop using his presence like a drug to get these two to listen to him. He wished he would let them share each other’s companionship constantly like they used to. He missed having them always there. It was almost impossible to get to sleep when they were gone, and when he did, his rest was plagued with nightmares of them being hurt to the point he would wake up again soon after. And Joey was sure that the Master didn’t remember to feed them unless they were in Joey’s cell, as the old man still needed to eat like any other human being. He was the only human being in the building, after all. Everyone else was made out of ink and only ate for pleasure, if you could even have pleasure eating ten-year-old bacon soup every day for more than thirty years as he had. Joey certainly didn’t. He spent at least some of his time alone every day fantasizing about his old friend Linda’s cooking, wishing he could see her and Henry again—

 _Dang it, Joey!_ he scolded himself. Even after all these years, his memories of his best friend were a minefield. One wrong move and his composure would be blown to bits. He couldn’t deny that he missed his old friend, that he wished Henry was there with him to make all the pain go away like he did when he was younger and the anguish of his parents’ deaths were still fresh in his mind, but he didn’t dare say it out loud for fear of it coming true. Henry didn’t deserve a fate like this. Henry was free, living outside of the studio with Linda, no doubt, and playing with the kids that they undoubtedly would have had together. He wondered ruefully if they knew who he was, if they knew anything about their father’s old friend Joey Drew and the adventures he and Henry had gone on when they were younger. They probably didn’t, he sighed internally. After all the Master had done while wearing his face like a mask, Henry and Linda most likely hated him. And he couldn’t blame them. He would hate him too. Joey would just have to be satisfied with taking care of his two wonderful toons and trying to get them out of here. Maybe if he got them to the surface, he’d introduce them to Henry... 

If. Not when, like the duo like to hope for, but if. Joey had yet to tell them that he was getting on in years and that he would most likely die soon. They would be heartbroken, and he didn’t want to do that to them. Besides, if he died here, he’d probably end up in the ink anyway. He wondered if they would still like him if he came back as a searcher or a Lost One. Would they even recognize him? 

Joey was startled out of his pessimistic thoughts by the sound of Inky’s soft snoring. He looked down to find that Inky and Illusion were fast asleep, and he chuckled at his stupidity. These were not thoughts to be having while he had his little ones close. Tonight, he’d sleep peacefully for the first time in a week, and he for one couldn’t wait. It was a recovery day, after all, and the toons weren’t the only ones recovering. 

Closing his eyes and leaning into Illusion’s soft fur, he smiled and fell into a peaceful sleep, silently wishing on whatever stars might be up there that freedom would come swiftly for them all. 

**Author's Note:**

> And that is my Joey Drew reveal! (Man, that is shorter than I thought it was... Oh well!) At the moment, he is human, but that could always change. And he’s got his little love-starved toon children to take care of, so who knows what will happen! 
> 
> Yes, the Master DOES use Joey like a drug for these sweet peas to get them to do what he wants. Joey is the only one who seems to care about them. What wouldn’t they do to see him and have him close? It’s cruel, but effective.
> 
> And no, the Master is not human. He’s made of ink. That’s all I’m revealing right now with this one. You’ll just have to wait a bit. ^^D
> 
> Fantasy OUT!


End file.
